Broadcom Corp. et al. v. Netflix, Inc.

I'll research this case thoroughly before drafting the overview.

Good foundation. Now let me pin down the patents, the trial outcome, and PTAB activity.

Broadcom Corp. et al. v. Netflix, Inc., No. 3:20-cv-04677-JD (N.D. Cal.)

The parties. Neither side is a classic NPE/PAE. Broadcom Corporation and Avago Technologies International Sales Pte. Ltd. are the plaintiffs — Broadcom is a large operating semiconductor and infrastructure-software company (the entity now called Broadcom Inc. is the former Avago, which acquired legacy Broadcom and took its name), and Avago is the Singapore sales/holding entity that nominally owns much of the asserted portfolio. Critically, the patents in this suit are largely acquired assets rather than home-grown Broadcom R&D: the '387 and '663 patents came to Avago through its 2014 acquisition of LSI Logic, and the '138 patent came via CA, Inc. (Netflix letter brief, Dkt. 345). Netflix argued below, and Broadcom did not dispute, that Broadcom "does not contend in this action that it practices any of the asserted claims" — so the case is best characterized as operating-company monetization of a legacy, acquisition-sourced portfolio, asserted against a very deep-pocketed service provider, rather than a shell-entity campaign. Defendant Netflix, Inc. is the global streaming service; it is headquartered in Los Gatos, within the Northern District, and litigated through Keker, Van Nest & Peters (Robert Van Nest, Sharif Jacob, Paven Malhotra), while Broadcom was represented principally by Reichman Jorgensen Lehman & Feldberg (Courtland Reichman) and, earlier, Hopkins & Carley (Dkt. 695).

The accused technology and the patents. Broadcom attacked Netflix's content-side encoding pipeline and its backend infrastructure — the systems that transcode titles into H.264/AVC and H.265/HEVC for delivery to subscriber devices. The originally filed complaint (Mar. 13, 2020) asserted nine patents (the complaint's caption inconsistently says "eight"

I'll research this case systematically, starting with the docket-level basics and then drilling into rulings, PTAB proceedings, and disposition.

This is a much larger case than the summary suggests (12 patents originally). Let me pull the docket and key orders.

Bottom line

This was not a three-patent case, and it never reached a jury. Broadcom/Avago filed against Netflix in July 2020 asserting twelve patents. Over five years the case was whittled down by §101 rulings on the pleadings and summary judgment, lost its remaining patents one by one, and ended on 2025‑04‑07 with a stipulated dismissal with prejudice of the ’387, ’663, ’992 and ’375 patents, dismissal without prejudice of the ’138 patent, vacatur of all trial dates, and entry of judgment (Dkt. 730, Dkt. 731). No verdict, no injunction, no public damages award, and no appeal on the docket as of this writing.

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1. Filing and pleadings (2020)

Note a clerical oddity: the caption block on later filings (e.g., Dkt. 695) recites "Date Filed: March 13, 2020," but the docket and case number correspond to a July 14, 2020 filing. I have not resolved that discrepancy.

2. Early §101 attrition (2020–2022) — the decisive phase

• 2020‑12‑22 hearing: Judge Donato said at the hearing that some asserted patents appeared "really, mainly aspirational" and questioned whether Broadcom was "buying the internet" by claiming widespread abstract computing techniques (Law360, Dec. 22, 2020).
• 2021‑09‑14 — Broadcom I, 2021 WL 4170784 (N.D. Cal. Sept. 14, 2021) (Dkt. 160): three asserted streaming patents dismissed without prejudice as patent‑ineligible under Alice. The court held, among other things, that "[i]mplementing an old practice in a new environment does not convert an otherwise abstract idea into something patentable." This knocked out the ’079 patent claim (traffic balancing on a "conventional, general purpose microprocessor") and the ’722 patent claim (collecting/correlating/storing performance data by "application instance"), among others.
• 2021‑10‑27: Netflix moved against the next patent on §101 grounds.
• *2022‑04‑13 — Broadcom Corp. v. Netflix Inc. (Broadcom II), 598 F. Supp. 3d 800 (N.D. Cal. 2022):* on Netflix's Rule 12(c) motion (Dkt. 181), the court held the ’183 patent (dynamic resource provisioning / job placement on distributed computing systems) directed to an abstract idea; twelfth claim for relief dismissed with leave to amend. Broadcom waived argument on dependent claims 2, 4, 6, 8, 11, 14, 15, so those were not separately reviewed.

Strategic significance: by mid‑2022 Broadcom had lost roughly half its asserted portfolio to eligibility rulings, all before any claim construction on those patents and with no fact discovery on validity.

3. Claim construction (Markman) — 2022‑05‑23, Dkt. 218

The court's Markman order addressed the ’121 and ’387 patents. Outcomes were mixed but net favorable to Broadcom on the two terms that mattered most:

• ’121 patent, "display pipeline" — Court adopted Broadcom's construction: "chain of multiple nodes." It rejected Netflix's

I'll search several angles to find press coverage of this case.

Press coverage of Broadcom v. Netflix (N.D. Cal. 3:20-cv-04677)

The launch of the case. Trade and legal press covered the filing closely because Broadcom framed streaming itself as the injury. Law360 reported on 2020-03-16 that Broadcom's suit "blame[d] Netflix for cable watchers ditching their TV service for online streaming platforms" and alleged the streaming giant "built its success partly on the back of the chipmaker's technology, which it says tanked sales of its semiconductor chips for cable set-top boxes." Chinese-language trade coverage from the China IP Protection Network (ipr.mofcom.gov.cn), published 2020-03-19 and credited to World IP Review, reported that the case was filed 2020-03-13 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, asserted eight patents, quoted Broadcom's line that "without the use of our patented technology, Netflix cannot replace — or cannot efficiently replace — traditional cable television service," and noted Broadcom sought an injunction plus trebled damages and a reasonable royalty. Legal Era similarly reported that Broadcom said it approached Netflix in September 2019 and that Netflix "declined to engage in a negotiation to license" the patents. Note that these accounts describe the original C.D. Cal. filing (later transferred and renumbered as the N.D. Cal. case), and that early reports put the patent count at eight or nine, not the twelve that appears in later N.D. Cal. pleadings.

The § 101 attrition, 2020–2022. The dominant press narrative became Netflix's serial Alice wins, not Broadcom's infringement theory. Law360 reported on 2020-06-10 that "Netflix Wants 4 'Abstract' Broadcom Patents Cut From IP Suit," and on 2020-12-22 that the presiding judge "said in a hearing Tuesday that some of the patents Broadcom accuses Netflix of infringing appear 'really, mainly aspirational'" and questioned whether some were attempts at "'buying the internet' by claiming ownership of widespread and abstract computing techniques." Westlaw Today's Intellectual Property Daily Briefing (Patrick H.J. Hughes, 2021-09-16) reported that Judge Donato on 2021-09-14 dismissed three network patents under Alice while sustaining a fourth, the '375 patent, as "a well-defined technical problem" with "a technical solution." Law Street Media covered the follow-on ruling invalidating the '183 patent with prejudice, quoting Judge Donato's finding that the claims were "highly general references to the process of using criteria to determine what devices are suitable for a new job."

The endgame in 2025. Two outlets covered the January 2025 summary-judgment ruling on the '121 patent. VitalLaw's IP Law Daily reported on 2025-01-09 that Judge Donato held claims 1 and 3 of U.S. Patent No. 8,259,121 invalid under § 101 as directed to "the abstract idea of routing and processing data in a network by dynamically selecting and connecting nodes," and granted Netflix summary judgment; Mealey's, in a piece carried on Law360 dated 2025-01-13, described the ruling in favor of Netflix in a case "significantly pared down in its almost five-year history." Neither outlet reported the April 2025 termination: the docket shows Judge Donato's 2025-04-07 order (Dkt. 730) dismissing all remaining claims relating to the '387, '663, '992 and '375 patents with prejudice, vacating trial, and closing the case. The only press-sourced account of the outcome I found is a Daily Journal profile of Netflix's counsel Sharif Jacob (2026-09-30), which says "a federal court entered judgment for Netflix" in April 2025, that Broadcom "had asserted 17 patents across two lawsuits and sought billions in damages," that Jacob's team invalidated 13 of them "through district court litigation and inter partes review," that the January 2025 summary judgment eliminated "roughly 85% of the damages claim still in play," and quotes Jacob calling it "a complete victory in an extraordinarily high-stakes dispute." That "billions" figure and the 85% characterization are law-firm framing, not figures I found in any court opinion or independent news account; no outlet reported settlement terms, and the docket instead reflects dismissal with prejudice plus Netflix's bill of costs against Broadcom.

Divergences and gaps. Reporting diverges on scope and posture: early 2020 stories describe an eight-patent C.D. Cal. complaint seeking an injunction and trebling, while the N.D. Cal. record involved twelve patents shrinking to a handful. Press accounts also consistently under-describe the RAND/patent-misuse theory — Netflix's H.264/H.265-based misuse, waiver and RAND-breach counterclaims against the '387, '663 and '283 patents (see Netflix's Dec. 22, 2023 trial brief, Dkt. 625) — which drew essentially no independent press attention even though it was the theory under which the two patents in this case's metadata would have been tried. Separately, the Netflix v. Broadcom/VMware countersuits were covered by ip fray (republished by China IP Lawyers), which noted that "more than five years and various court decisions later, Netflix still isn't paying patent royalties to Broadcom," and the parallel Dutch litigation drew a short JUVE Patent/ipnexus report of a "double win for Netflix" via Hoyng ROKH and Quinn Emanuel. Caveats: all Law360, Mealey's, Westlaw and VitalLaw items are paywalled, and for Law360 I could confirm only headlines and ledes surfaced in search results, not full text; and my searches surfaced no Reuters, Bloomberg, Ars Technica, The Verge, IPWatchdog or Patently-O coverage of this case, so I cannot say definitively that none exists — only that nothing appeared. Post-judgment developments, including Broadcom's Federal Circuit appeal (No. 25-1740, noticed 2025-05-09) and the $130,897.69 in costs taxed against Broadcom on 2026-03-19, appear to have gone unreported in the press entirely.

Sources

• Docket updates for Broadcom Corporation v. Netflix, Inc., 3:20-cv-04677 - Docket updates for Broadcom Corporation v
• Order – #711 in Broadcom Corporation v. Netflix, Inc. (N.D. Cal., 3:20-cv-04677) – CourtListener.com - Broadcom Corporation v. Netflix, Inc.
• PATENT—N.D. Cal.: Netflix did not infringe Broadcom Corp’s network processing patent
• Broadcom Corp. v. Netflix, Inc. - Broadcom Corp. v. Netflix, Inc.
• Transcript – #651 in Broadcom Corporation v. Netflix, Inc. (N.D. Cal., 3:20-cv-04677) – CourtListener.com - Broadcom Corporation v. Netflix, Inc.
• Case 3:20- cv- 04677- JD Document 335 Filed 02/21/23 Page 1 of 5
• Case 3:20-cv-04677-JD Document 215 Filed 05/18/22 Page 1 of 18
• Broadcom Corporation et al v. Netflix, Inc. - This case was last updated from U
• Broadcom Corporation v. Netflix, Inc., 3:20-cv-04677
• Broadcom Corp. v. Netflix, Inc. - From Casetext: Smarter Legal Research
• Broadcom Corporation et al v. Netflix, Inc. - January 08, 2025
• Complaint – #1 in Broadcom Corporation v. Netflix, Inc. (N.D. Cal., 3:20-cv-04677) – CourtListener.com - Broadcom Corporation v. Netflix, Inc.

I'll research the docket and related sources for plaintiffs' counsel of record.

Key nuance emerging: this case began in C.D. Cal. and the plaintiffs' counsel lineup changed over time. Let me dig into the docket and later filings.

Let me pin down the current Federal Circuit appearances and the mid-case transition to Reichman Jorgensen, plus verify firm/office details.

Counsel of Record for Plaintiffs (Broadcom Corp. and Avago Technologies International Sales Pte. Ltd.)

Bottom line: The plaintiffs' side had two distinct eras of representation. Holland & Knight (with Hopkins & Carley as local counsel) handled the case from filing through the close of fact discovery/claim construction; Reichman Jorgensen Lehman & Feldberg took over as lead trial counsel for the 2024–2025 pretrial push, the January 2025 summary-judgment ruling, and the Federal Circuit appeal. Holland & Knight formally withdrew in January 2025.

⚠️ Sourcing note: I worked from CourtListener/RECAP reproductions of the N.D. Cal. docket, filed signature blocks, and Federal Circuit docket data — not a direct PACER session. I did not independently verify every pro hac vice order.

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1. Current / most recent counsel of record (2023–present)

Reichman filed an entry of appearance and an amended entry of appearance for appellants Avago and Broadcom in Fed. Cir. No. 25-1740 (May and September 2025). See Federal Circuit docket 25-1740.

Gap to note: I could not locate the specific substitution order by which RJLF replaced Holland & Knight as counsel of record. The RJLF signature blocks appear by 2024, while H&K's withdrawal was docketed later (below). If you need the exact substitution date, pull the docket entries between mid-2023 and early 2024.

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2. Original counsel of record (2020–early 2025) — now withdrawn or superseded

Additional detail worth knowing: a retained technical expert's declaration in unrelated PTAB matters describes being "retained through Thompson & Knight LLP (now Holland & Knight) on behalf of Broadcom Corp." in this litigation (C.D. Cal. No. 8:20-cv-529 and N.D. Cal. 3:20-cv-04677-JD), which corroborates the Thompson & Knight → Holland & Knight lineage of the plaintiffs' team.

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3. Items I could not verify

• No Broadcom/Avago in-house counsel appears as counsel of record in any filing I reviewed. Broadcom in-house attorneys may have appeared for the Rule 30(b)(6) depositions or been copied on service lists, but I found no notice of appearance.
• No sealed appearance issue identified — the counsel entries above are all from public dockets/filings. Certain pretrial and expert materials in this case were filed under seal, which is a separate matter from counsel appearance.
• Specific pro hac vice orders for Sostek, Wynne, Dominguez, Cohen, Karson, and Patel: I saw the applications and the signature blocks asserting admission, but I only confirmed the granting order for Natalie Parker (Dkt. 120/121).

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4. Context that affects "counsel of record" analysis

The case was originally filed in the Central District of California (No. 8:20-cv-529 / 5:20-cv-04677, Judge James V. Selna) on March 13, 2020, and then transferred to N.D. Cal. and reassigned to Judge Donato — which is why the early docket shows C.D. Cal.-style filings and a Hopkins & Carley local-counsel designation.

Also, for docket accuracy: the case did not simply fade out. Judge Donato granted Netflix summary judgment on the '121 patent claims on January 8, 2025 on § 101 grounds, and final judgment was entered April 7, 2025 (Dkt. 731). Plaintiffs appealed, and the appeal is pending as Fed. Cir. No. 25-1740, with Reichman and RJLF as appellate counsel. The '283 patent claims were dismissed with prejudice by joint notice in October 2024 (Dkt. 695), leaving the '387 and '663 patents as the matters on which the Court's rulings on Netflix's waiver, patent misuse, and RAND counterclaims were requested.

Key sources: CourtListener docket, 3:20-cv-04677; Dkt. 694 & 695 (RJLF plaintiffs' signature blocks); Dkt. 520 (H&K plaintiffs' signature block); Dkt. 120/121 (Parker PHV); Dkt. 731 (judgment); Fed. Cir. No. 25-1740 docket; VitalLaw, "Netflix did not infringe Broadcom Corp's network processing patent" (Jan. 9, 2025); Chambers profile, Courtland Reichman.

I'll research the counsel of record for Netflix in this case.

Let me dig into the docket and the Federal Circuit appeal for a complete counsel list.

Let me check the Keker case page and the Orrick Federal Circuit team, plus verify other firms involved.

Counsel of Record for Netflix, Inc. — Broadcom Corp. v. Netflix, Inc., No. 3:20-cv-04677-JD (N.D. Cal.)

Bottom line: Netflix's defense was run by Keker, Van Nest & Peters LLP (San Francisco) from the outset — the case was originally filed in C.D. Cal. (No. 8:20-cv-00529, Judge James V. Selna) and transferred to Judge Donato, and Keker entered appearances in the C.D. Cal. phase in May 2020. On the Federal Circuit appeal (No. 25-1740) Netflix added Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP as appellate counsel. No separate "local counsel" firm was used because Keker is itself a San Francisco firm.

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1. Keker, Van Nest & Peters LLP — trial counsel (633 Battery Street, San Francisco, CA 94111)

2. Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP — appellate counsel (Fed. Cir. No. 25-1740, Netflix as Appellee)

Sources: CourtListener parties/docket for No. 25-1740 (https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70218339/parties/broadcom-corporation-v-netflix-inc/); Orrick bio for Bostwick (https://www.orrick.com).

3. In-house counsel

I found no Netflix in-house attorney noticed as counsel of record in the district court docket excerpts I could retrieve. One name, Julia Greenberg, appears in the docket filing a transcript order on Netflix's behalf for the Feb. 6, 2025 hearing (N.D. Cal. docket, Feb. 2025) — she is plausibly Netflix in-house litigation counsel or a Keker paralegal/docketing staffer, but I could not verify which, so I would not represent her as counsel of record without pulling the ECF service list.

4. Explicit non-findings / caveats

• Quinn Emanuel is sometimes linked to Netflix streaming-patent work (e.g., its German docket), but no Quinn Emanuel attorney appeared in this case in any docket material I reviewed. Do not list them here.
• Individual attorney names were pulled from signature blocks on filed documents (Dkts. 134, 215, 385, 694, 695 and C.D. Cal. Dkts. 25–31, 35) and from the CAFC parties page; I did not run a full "all attorneys" report off PACER. A PACER docket report filtered to Netflix would confirm date terminated for the early C.D. Cal. appearances (Lee, Hasselberg, Kamber, Tran) and catch any late notices of withdrawal I missed.
• Filings in this case were heavily sealed/redacted (see Judge Donato's sealing order, Dkt. 335, and provisional sealing order of Mar. 19, 2025), but counsel identity is public in every instance above.
• Role labels ("lead trial counsel," "of counsel") are inferred from signature-block ordering, the parties' references to "lead trial counsel" (Dkt. 520, 694), and firm/press profiles — the docket does not formally designate a single lead trial counsel for Netflix.

Outcome context (for the counsel analysis): Netflix ultimately prevailed — Judge Donato granted summary judgment of invalidity on the remaining patent in January 2025 (cutting ~85% of damages), and Broadcom stipulated to dismissal with prejudice of the '387 and '663 claims on March 31, 2025 (Dkt. 725), with a without-prejudice dismissal of the '138 claim (Dkt. 726) and judgment entered in April 2025. Broadcom/Avago then appealed (No. 25-1740, docketed May 6, 2025; opening brief filed Sept. 9, 2025), which is why the Orrick appellate team is on the file.